Ford Thinks Calling Its New Minivan A 'Wagon' Will Attract Young Buyers

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — It looks like a minivan. It has sliding
doors like a minivan. So why isn't Ford calling its new seven-seater a minivan?

For the same reason you don't wear mom jeans or listen to Barry
Manilow: It's not cool.

The Transit Connect Wagon will debut later this month at
the Los Angeles Auto Show. It's set to go on sale late next fall.

To the average buyer — or, in fact, to everyone outside of Ford
Motor Co. — it will appear that Ford is getting back into the
minivan business after a six-year hiatus. The Transit Connect
Wagon, which is based on Ford's Transit Connect commercial van,
has the high roof of the van but trades its industrial-looking
hood for the tapered nose and trapezoid grille of Ford's cars. It
has sliding doors on both sides and comes in five-seat and
seven-seat versions.

The new vehicle will have two four-cylinder engine options, one
of which will get 30 miles per gallon or more on the highway.
That would make it the most fuel-efficient minivan on the market
— if it was a minivan. But Ford insists it's not.

"It's anything but a minivan," said David Mondragon, Ford's
general manager of marketing. "In our mind, it's a people mover.
We think of it as more of a utility, or kind of a hybrid sport
utility, than a minivan."

Mondragon says the m-word is too polarizing and turns off Ford's
target customers: 30- to 42-year-old parents who grew up with
minivans and like their utility but don't want to sacrifice
style. At one point, Ford even considered calling the wagon a
"you-tility," but it turned out another carmaker already had dibs
on that one.

"A lot of consumers in this segment are parents who still want
their own identity," Mondragon said. "There's a lot of blandness
in the industry, especially in regard to multi-passenger
vehicles. They want something fresh and uniquely styled."

The Transit Connect Wagon has a different look than the average
minivan. The roof is higher, the windshield has a steeper slant
and it's got a sturdier, more industrial look.

Ford

But more importantly for Ford, the Transit Connect Wagon will be
priced like a minivan. The company's current seven-seaters, the
Flex wagon and Explorer SUV, cost $30,000 or higher. While Ford
isn't releasing a price for the new vehicle yet, Mondragon says
it will compete at the lower end of the market with vehicles like
the Dodge Grand Caravan, a minivan that starts at $19,995.

Dealers say the vehicle fills a void in Ford's lineup. The
company stopped making the Freestar minivan in 2006, citing
falling demand as customers swarmed to new crossovers like the
Ford Escape. But the decision cost it some customers who needed
the utility of a minivan, says Terry Kidd, who owns Kidd Ford
Lincoln in Morrison, Tenn.

"We still sell used minivans. It's a very popular body style," he
said.

Kidd says the Transit Connect Wagon should be as good — if not
better — than other minivans on the market. That's a far cry from
the clunky, inefficient Freestar, which had trouble competing
with industry leaders like the Honda Odyssey.

Ford has been selling a five-passenger version of the Transit
Connect van since 2010, but it's designed for commercial use and
has few creature comforts. The new version will offer lots of
bells and whistles, including a panoramic sunroof, leather seats,
third-row seats that slide back and forth and the MyFordTouch
entertainment system. Its second- and third-row seats fold down
to create 100 cubic feet of cargo space behind the first row, or
about 20 cubic feet less than the Nissan Quest minivan.

U.S. minivan sales peaked at 1.37 million in 2000; by last year,
they had fallen to 472,398. About 3 percent of new vehicle buyers
are purchasing minivans now, down from 6 percent a decade ago,
according to Strategic Vision, a consulting firm. Alexander
Edwards, who heads Strategic Vision's automotive division, says
Ford can move that needle, but it needs to show what makes the
Transit Wagon different — its optional rear cargo doors, for
example — and target nontraditional minivan buyers like aging
parents and outdoor enthusiasts.

"Yes, the term minivan is polarizing, but for those who are open
to a minivan-styled vehicle, most do not care or worry about such
stigma," he said.

The Transit Connect Wagon will be made in Valencia, Spain, and
exported to the U.S., Asia and Europe. Ford currently sells about
35,000 Transit Connects in the U.S. each year, and about 15
percent of those are the five-passenger wagon versions, which are
used by taxi companies and others. It expects to double that with
the new wagon.

Rebecca Lindland, an automotive analyst with IHS Global Insight,
thinks Ford is worrying too much about focus groups. Cave in and
call it a minivan, she says.

"It's a great-looking vehicle," she said. "I think they should
celebrate the utility of it."

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